Utopia, Iowa

December 15, 2014
Utopia, Iowa, is filled with people who have special abilities. Jack Bell talks to dead people, his neighbor can see and predict events with his glass eye, and the local college offers courses in mind-reading, teleportation, and the like. When Jack, a fledgling high school screenwriter, is visited by a recently deceased Nirvana College student, he learns that she does not remember how she died. Along with best friend Ash, Jack investigates, but soon another girl is murdered, and Jack is threatened by the head of Nirvana College and lead detective Bloodsmith, Jack’s mother’s ex-boyfriend. Yansky (Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences) weaves two separate stories together, and Jack’s dilemma is gradually understood to be part of a much larger (and dangerous) otherworld scheme. Descriptions are initially lackluster (“There is no silence like a room full of silent people”) and Jack’s frequent film references are distracting, but the mysterious deaths and Jack’s concern over his parents’ possible divorce contribute intensity to the latter half of the novel. Yansky’s climactic ending leaves many loose strings, suggesting a sequel to come. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger.

January 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-Jack would like nothing more than to be a normal senior in high school trying to get a date with his best friend, Ash, and hoping to one day become a movie producer. Unfortunately, his ability to see dead people is getting in the way of normal. Lately, the dead people that are appearing before him are demanding more and more of his time; they want to know how they died. Unable to avoid the demands, he finds himself at the crime scenes and under the suspicion of Detective Bloodsmith who refuses to believe that Jack has a sixth sense. Jack is a likable character set in a clever plot. Yansky's writing is down to earth and entertaining. Readers will appreciate the movie references throughout as well as the story-within-a-story wherein Jack becomes Joshua Bell. While Jack is busy trying to help the dead, prove his innocence, and figure out what the angel in white wants, readers will be surprised when the plot takes an unexpected twist to bring the whole story together. Teens looking for a good mystery with a paranormal twist will enjoy this one. -Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2014
A small town's population is paranormally gifted in this new mystery.High school senior Jack Bell balances his classes and home life while dreaming of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter. He lives in Utopia, Iowa, a small town that has one curious trait: All the residents have paranormal gifts, which may have something to do with local Nirvana College's peculiar curriculum. Jack can see the dead, and several are trying to get him to solve their murders. It's a nifty premise, but Yansky never breathes life into it. Jack goes through the gumshoe motions, but he ends up drowning in his wordy narration, which vacillates between colloquial and weirdly formal. He has a tendency toward overlong sentences and uses unnecessary flourishes that make him sound fussy rather than quirky: "Our mother accommodated my carnivorous preference by making me pot roasts and hamburgers and chicken to go with whatever arrangement of vegetables [my vegetarian family was] eating." Verbal tics, especially repeated references to movie data, further bog the story down. The central mystery never adds up to anything of real consequence, leaving the exploration of Jack's home life the lone highlight: His parents are going through a rough patch in their marriage, and the author nails the tone of a couple experiencing a frosty period. Unfortunately, this drama is only in the background, and in the end, it just peters out. Alas, not as much fun as it should be. (Paranormal mystery. 12-16)

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July 1, 2015
Many people have supernatural gifts in Jack Bell's hometown of Utopia, and seeing ghosts is an everyday occurrence. But when a spectral girl asks for Jack's help solving the mystery of her death, he's suddenly targeted by an ancient evil. Despite an intriguing setting and a tense murder mystery, the romance and family drama feel like afterthoughts and the story's ending feels rushed.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)